Reuse the News: Go green

Ann Baird ripens tomatoes in boxes lined with the Goldstream Gazette at her cob home in Highlands.

Ann Baird and her family live life as green as possible.

They built the first code-approved seismically engineered cob house in North America.

The Highlands home also functions with solar power, collected rainwater and compostable toilets.

The no-flush option looks similar to a toilet except instead of a toilet bowl full of water, a bucket collects the waste. And instead of flushing, each user drops a handful of wood shavings in the bucket.

“Shredded newspaper would work well instead of the wood chips,” Baird said.

Each week the family’s waste buckets are dumped into the compost pile that is carefully monitored with a thermometer. The mound of organic matter doesn’t emit a foul smell.

“It decomposes so quickly it doesn’t rot,” Baird explained.

To keep the heat in, the compost heap is covered with straw, but Baird explains newspaper would also make a good cover.

“Newspaper can also be put right into the compost pile,” she said. “If you burn it it just goes right up into the atmosphere, if you recycle it turns into other products, but if you compost it, it turns back into earth.”

When composting human and kitchen waste together, Baird explained the compost pile is rich in nitrogen and needs to be balanced out with carbon. The carbon comes from the newspaper.